会意
Compound ideographs

第一课你就写了 好；第二级你天天说 明天；第五级你用 从 说 从家到学校。这三个字都是两个部分合起来的：好 = 女 + 子，明 = 日 + 月，从 = 一个人跟着一个人。两个部分都表示意思，谁也不表示读音——这就是会意。

You wrote 好 in your very first lesson, you have said 明天 every week since level 2, and you used 从 to say 从家到学校 in level 5. All three are two parts joined: 好 is 女 beside 子, 明 is 日 beside 月, 从 is one person walking behind another. In each case both halves carry meaning and neither carries the sound. That is a compound ideograph.

所以会意字读起来没有提示。明 里没有一半读 míng，休 里也没有一半读 xiū；你只能一个一个地记读音，可是意思一看就懂。这跟象形、指事不一样：那两种是从东西来的，会意是从别的字来的。

So a compound ideograph gives you no help with its reading — nothing inside 明 says míng, nothing inside 休 says xiū — but it hands you the meaning at a glance. Note also where the raw material comes from. Pictographs and indicatives are made out of things; compound ideographs are made out of characters you already have.

休 是最好懂的会意字：一个人，一棵树，人在树下停下来。别的常见的会意字也一样直接——男 = 田 + 力（在田里出力），安 = 女在屋里，看 = 手放在眼睛上面往远处望。每一个都是一幅小画，可是画的不是东西，是事情。

休 is the friendliest of them all: a person, a tree, and the person stopping under it. The other common ones are just as direct — 男 is strength in a field, 安 is a woman under a roof, 看 is a hand raised over the eyes to look into the distance. Each is a little picture, but what it pictures is a situation rather than an object.

这一类字最容易记，因为规则只有一条：重复就是多。木、林、森 是一条整齐的线，从一棵树到一片林子；众 也一样，一个人是 人，三个人就是 众——众人、大众 都是从这儿来的。写 众 的时候，上面一个人，下面两个人，正好站成一堆。

These are the easiest of all to remember, because the rule is one line long: more of it means more. 木, 林, 森 is a tidy series running from one tree to a whole wood. 众 does the same with people — one 人 is a person, three are a crowd, and that is where 众人 and 大众 come from. When you write it, one person stands above and two below, exactly like a small gathering.